Effective Temperature in an Interacting Vertex System: Theory and Experiment on Artificial Spin Ice

Cristiano Nisoli, Jie Li, Xianglin Ke, D. Garand, P. Schiffer, Vincent H. Crespi

Abstract

Frustrated arrays of interacting single-domain nanomagnets provide important model systems for statistical mechanics, because they map closely onto well-studied vertex models and are amenable to direct imaging and custom engineering. Although these systems are manifestly athermal, we demonstrate that the statistical properties of both hexagonal and square lattices can be described by an effective temperature based on the magnetostatic energy of the arrays. This temperature has predictive power for the moment configurations and is intimately related to how the moments are driven by an oscillating external field.

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• Physical Review Letters - View
• arXiv (Cornell University) - View - PDF
• PubMed - View
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